Wednesday, February 21, 2018

I had a totally awesome experience last month. I
found, by accident, an old Facebook message. Sadly, the enticing offer to do a guest
blog post was six weeks old. I began beating myself up for not being on top of
the social media game, all the while knowing that it would be futile. I do what
I can.

Finding the old message was a verifiable miracle as
far as I was concerned. But was it a real offer and not some scam? I’ve been
tricked before. I have the infected computer (sitting in the closet) to prove
it. I checked out Southern Writers
Magazine online. It’s real. I clicked through to Suite T and started reading recent blog posts by William Walsh. I
got down to his Jan. 26 post and came upon a familiar quote and a
long-forgotten name of a writing instructor. So, two miracles in one morning.

I sat down at my new
computer to write out my thoughts—to create one more miracle. I didn’t
procrastinate, let those thoughts fade, I got on with some real writing.

I resisted the urge to send it in that first night.
Totally GOOD IDEA on my part, because by the next morning’s light I could tell
that while the basics were solid enough, I had to do some reorganization for flow
and clarity.

The second draft was better. Then, I took time to read
the SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. Bad news. I had to chop out words to get from 640 to
under 500.

That took some doing. In fact, I over did it, and got
to add words back (saved my ending). Still, it’s good practice to weigh every
word and thought.

The title of my blog post is FOX HUNTING, and I will be sure to let everyone know when it will
be posted.

THE
TRUTH: I’ve finally figured out that if I had found that
message in a timelier manner, like, any time sooner than when I did, I would
have missed the whole sequence of events that led up to my discovering the
teacher’s name. I also would have been hard pressed to have anything relevant
to write about. I hate to say this, but procrastination really worked out in my
favor this time. Makes me wonder how many other times I benefitted by being
lucky instead of being talented.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Jonathan Turner’s A Brief History of Bucktown was the star
attraction at the last READ LOCAL event held at the Bettendorf Public Library.

I couldn’t attend. So, to atone
I found last year’s Goodreads book review to post.

“This is a small but mighty volume that
highlights the history and heritage of an important river town. Davenport was
part of the Tri-Cities first and then the Quad Cities most recently as they all
shared the banks of the Mississippi River. The river brought life, prosperity,
and growing pains to an early frontier Davenport that rivaled the likes of
cities many times its size. Turner documents it all with faithful quotes from a
great many sources. He begins in the 1880s by showing us the booze-soaked red-light
district and progresses forward through the boom and bust years of two world
wars and a major farm crisis. He ends with an amazing come-back story of urban
revitalization.

The high point for me was going to hear the Quad City Wind
Ensemble preform at St. Ambrose University's Allaert Hall. I'd just finished
the part of chapter four that highlighted the cultural influence of the German
American population's love of all things musical. The title of the performance
was "Fiesta" and the music was lively and uplifting. I felt like I
had a direct line back to those rowdy beer halls of Bucktown in its heyday
without having to stagger home.

There's just so much information here and the before and
after photos are very helpful, but it left me wishing for someone to put
together a tour to give me more.

Turner has done an impressive job with his
brief overview. I think he has opened a door to a lot of stories waiting to be
told."

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Co-authors
George Walker and John Peragine have created a little gem of a book. Cucamonga
Valley Wine is packed with facts, figures, and photos that highlight an area of
California that needs to be remembered for its contribution to the history of
the wine industry and to American society.

What looked
like useless, inhospitable soil at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains held a
secret treasure that few outsiders would discover until Franciscan monks showed
up with their Mission grapes. A century later, that wild wasteland of rocks,
sand, and desert plants revealed a deep source of water that would allow for the
dry-farming, or non-irrigation, of varieties of grapes familiar to Italian
immigrants well trained in the art of winemaking. Those enterprising Italian
families worked for generations to establish a strong wine-producing culture
that outlasted Prohibition and wasting diseases. They persevered until modern
times, when car exhaust and urban sprawl proved to be too much competition.

Wine
enthusiasts will appreciate the attention to detail and the ending that isn’t
an ending: There will always be a place for fine wine at the American table.

About Me

Mary Davidsaver is a graduate of the University of Iowa and a retired jewelry designer. She has written for local newspapers since 2007. She is a member of the Midwest Writing Center who has won two Iron Pen first place awards. In 2013, she was the first local writer to win the Great River Writer's Retreat Contest. She has published her first novel with MWC Press.
Mary was presented with the Outstanding Literary Artist Award at the May 24, 2017 annual meeting of the Midwest Writing Center.